Sun worship was a religious practice that developed in some lands as people came to associate the sun with the growing season and with warmth. It developed especially among agricultural peoples, who needed sunshine for their crops. Sun worship was important in the cultures of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, and northern India. The peoples of Scandinavia also worshiped the sun. Teutonic peoples named the first day of the week for the sun. Sun worship was important to American Indians in the agricultural lands that are now the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. It also grew up among the Aztec, Inca, and Maya peoples who lived in Central and South America.
Kings and queens in some lands believed themselves to be brothers, sisters, or children of the sun, and they came to be worshiped as gods. For hundreds of years, the Japanese worshiped their emperor as a descendant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu-O-Mi-Kami. The Bible warns against the worship of the sun, which it says was created by God.
